“I guess I need to tell someone. This would be between us, right?”
A nervous wave went through me. “Of course.”
“I’m being stalked.”
CHAPTER TWO
My first thought was, It’s my fault. They’re not after her, they think they’re stalking me. I’m the one who’s made the bad element of the city unhappy. And MC had taken up residence in the apartment I’d abandoned, three floors above the family business, the Galigani Mortuary. As I once did, she lived over a prep room—home of embalming fluids, otherworldly sinks, and the occasional defensive weapon.
“Is someone hanging around the mortuary? Maybe they think I still live there. I’ve had my share of—”
MC held up her hand to stop me, her eyes frightened, the sparkle of her musical “swallows” performance gone with the last sip of her beer. I knew I should pursue an investigative tack, or say something comforting; I settled for simply not becoming hysterical, which I accomplished by a few deep breaths.
Girls’ Night Out was falling apart. I wished Matt were with us. MC and I both needed the levelheaded perspective of law enforcement.
While “Josephine” fussed over slipping the check under a wet glass, I formulated some questions in my mind. How long have you been stalked? What did “they” look like? How close have they come to you? Do they know you know?
Once our waitress left, MC was ready with thoughts of her own. “It has nothing to do with living at the mortuary. I know who it is, and why.”
“You’ve seen him? Her?”
“I just know. It’s Jake Powers, my ex-boyfriend.”
So, “boyfriend” extended into at least the thirties. Irrelevance always crept in when I was tense.
“The one you left in Houston?”
“Yeah, well, I thought I did. But he was very upset when I left him, and I guess he followed me here.”
“Has he been to the apartment? Phoned you? What?”
She shook her head. “Right now he’s just hanging around everywhere. My health club in Winthrop, the grocery store, the library. I see this shadow, but I know it’s him. He’s a small guy. I know it’s just a matter of time before he makes himself known. I haven’t told Mom anything about this. Or anyone else.”
“Good move.” I pictured MC’s father, Frank, and her two protective older brothers, Robert and John, forming a SWAT team around her. I tapped the table with my unpainted, uneven nails. My nervous thinking exercise—how to get Matt involved without upsetting the rest of our small circle.
MC’s perfect carmine fingertips poked out from the ribbing of her sweatshirt as she put her hand on mine. “I’m scared, Aunt G.”
I swallowed, suddenly unable to think of her as anything but a little girl. “Come home with me tonight. We’ll talk to Matt. He can put a car outside the building at least. They’ll catch him lurking and give him—” I racked my brain. “A restraining order.”
MC shook her head, tilted it toward the ladies’ room. “I don’t want everyone to get all excited.”
“We don’t have to tell anyone.” I breathed deeply. “Do you think Jake is dangerous?”
MC lowered her eyes, played with the remnants of her napkin. Not the “whole truth” posture. Should I trust what came next? I wondered.
“He does have a temper. He’d get angry and break some dishes whenever he came home without a ribbon.”
“A ribbon?”
“Besides being an excellent chemist, he’s a very competitive equestrian.”
“He’s one of those people who jump over hurdles on a horse?”
The beginning of a smile. “Something like that. They’re called fences—made up of poles or planks, or even walls—and there are lots of different configurations that I learned about.”
“Not as fascinating as what we can do with the strong bonds among the carbon atoms in that new material you were working with.” A pause for a smile, and then I had to play godmother, responsible for MC’s spiritual, mental, and physical well-being. I felt no less liability because MC was now an adult with two perfectly functioning biological parents. “Did Jake ever … take out his anger on you, MC?”
She shook her head, but just barely, eyes cast down once more. Unconvincing. “He was all possessive, and who needs that? He listened in on my phone calls, checked my mail, got jealous of even my nights out with my girlfriends. And if I ever went to lunch with one of the male techs, he’d …”
“So you got along well with the technicians out there?” Your mother’s on the way back, was what I meant, and MC understood.